The Sports Club history

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The History of Lacey Green and Loosley Sports Club. Research by Miles Marshall. Published in Hallmark in 1987

Football on the club ground in 1960s

It must be more than a year since Eric Boorman (Eric & Jessie Boorman) suggested to me that I should write the story of the Sports Club for our magazine. Since then I have talked to a score or more of local people which have all been most helpful and no doubt there are many whom I could and perhaps should have consulted had time permitted. I am most grateful to all those who have helped me put the story together though there is just not space to mention names. Similarly, I have had to omit the names of the many outstanding players, long-serving officers and dedicated members who have given their time and talents unstintingly over the last 66 years to make the Club a success.

Whilst this is to be, essentially, a History of the Village Sports Club that was founded in 1921, it is interesting to note that cricket has been regularly played in the village for far longer than living memory can recall whilst football has repeatedly come and gone over the years.

Before 1921, both games were played in a field of some six acres part of Windmill Farm The field is the second meadow to be crossed on the footpath from the bus shelter to Lily Bottom.

The year 1911 was to be an important one both for the village and the players, for John Forrest of Grymsdyke (click John & Evelyn Forrest) had died the previous year and his estate was broken up. Lane Farm, Lacey Green was taken over by the Reverend William Robson, Harold Hickman staying as his tenant (click Harold & Emily Hickman for Harold's life story).

Stocken Farm was bought by William Saunders (click William Saunders & Bethia Janes) and more importantly to the sports teams Harold Carter bought Grymsdyke. for more about Harold Carter click Harold Edward & Eliza Carter.

Edward Carter was a wealthy young city merchant and shipper and very soon patronised the local sportsmen, finding both cricketers and footballers a good playing field in Bottom Green Meadows which are now bisected by New Road. A small pavilion was built there and the field was in regular use until well into the first World War when players were called up.

Then around 1918, William Saunders, not to be out-done by a 'city gent' offered the clubs the use of his home pasture, now known as 'Front Field' between Stocken Farmhouse and Main Road, where Dick West built his bungalow 'Cotswold'. Although Mr. Saunders soon repented of his generosity, he found he had lent the players the handiest little field on the farm for a calving cow or a sick bast, but the little pavilion was moved there and they continued to enjoy his hospitality until about 1921.

From the minute books

The Club have graciously allowed me to consult records going back to 1920 from which I have been able to trace the main sequence of events since that year. Incidentally, as I looked through the first Minute Book, a small slip of aper fell out bearing the simple statement 'Concert at Lacey Green School in aid of Cricket Club Funds Wed. 15th Nov. 1906. But our story really starts on 23rd September 1921, when a public meeting was called at The Reading Room. (This was between Gordon May's bungalow and Lacey Green School; it was demolished in the seventies when a private residence.) The meeting was to consider the formation of a new club to be known as 'The Lacey Green and Loosley Row Sports Club' and it was to cater for Cricket, Football and Tennis.

The meeting was chaired by Harold Edward Carter who was elected President of the new Club: officers and committee were also elected and a committee meeting called for three days later. At that meeting the Sports Club really got underway. Negotiations were already in for the fencing-off the 'new ground' by the members themselves. A.E. Lacey, Hon. Sec. was authorised to buy oak posts from the Hampden Estate and Lawrence Brown (landlord of The Crown) (click Lawrence & Sarah Brown for the life story of Lawrence) who shared the post of Hon. Treas. with H. Hickman (click Harold & Emily Hickman) was to obtain plain and barbed wire with staples and was to be prominent in the work of erecting the new fence. The little pavilion was brought round to the new ground and erected near Charlie Currell's hedge from where it was to make one more move to become the present cricket scorer's booth. Loam for the new pitch was entrusted to Horace Adams for the princely sum of three pounds.

Secretary, Miss Nancy Hawes was elected and 29 members joined the Tennis Section in 1922, enthusiasm for the latter sport was not to last long. However, a grass court was made near the School boundary, surrounded by a high 'chicken wire' fence, a tennis net and other gear was purchased and some tennis was played there for two or three years when it seems to have fizzled out. The wire was taken down, the net put away and no more was to be seen of tennis at the Club until 1962 wen the first of the existing three courts was laid. Village tennis in the intervening years was confined to a court in the Vicarage garden and one or two other private courts.

Although the minutes of the committee meetings in 1923 reveal some despondency about the finalisation of the lease on the new ground sufficient to make them hesitant about spending more money on improving the ground, this must have been settled satisfactorily because there is no further reference to it and the work seems to have gone ahead with a will.

It is good to note how much time and energy the members were prepared to devote to the club in those early days to get things going. Note too that whilst tennis may have been grinding to halt, the cricket team was halfway up the League Table and some most enjoyable matches are recorded.

The cost of membership in April 1922 was an 'entrance fee' presumably annual, of 5/- for cricket, 5/- for tennis and 3/- for football, plus a small levy on the players each match to cover the cost of the referee or umpires. Funds were also being raised in other ways and in July 1922 Major and Mrs Luther of Wimble End, Church Lane, organised a garden concert and defraying all expenses themselves, raised £9-1s- 5d for club funds. Indeed the new Sports Club must already have been flourishing to enable them to lend the Village Hall committee fifteen quid!

In earlier times, a wagonette had been used to take players to away matches but now a lorry was hired and about 1s 6d collected from each player so that a modest profit was usually returned at the end of the season. The minutes of 1923 however reveal an interesting social change - many of the younger players now had motor-cycles and there was a loss for the year on transport of £2 16s 6d. The lorry hire was to be given up and if necessary a taxi hired from Charlie Witcher. Many familiar village names recur again and again in the minutes and batting averages, etc. Names such as :- Adams, Baker, Biggs, Barefoot, Boorman, Brown, Chilton, Darville, Dell, Ginger, Gregory, Hickman, Janes, Lacey, May, Rixon, Saunders, Tilbury, Weller and so on, names which are often carried by a younger generation though happily a few of the originals are still with us.

In 1933, William Saunders, the Club's landlord, died. Stocken Farm was bought by Ernest Smith of Naphill, who let it the following year to Dick & Hilda West. A considerable acreage of Stocken Farm was taken over during the war for an airfield which also spread over the Sports Field. This was released early in 1946, just in time for cricket though the ground was in poor condition.

The committee at that time had a great ambition to own their own ground and an approach was made to Mrs Millward about a piece of ground at The Windmill, and to Harry Floyd respecting land behind the Village Hall. A deputation also waited on Ernest Smith who owned large tracts of land in the area. But all to no avail, land in 1946 was just not for sale!

The Club seems to have decided to make the best of their situation as it was and at the end of the Cricket Season in 1946, Frank Chilton, Hon. Sec. reported "a most successful season" and a cash surplus of £104. 6s 0d. There is no mention now of Mr. Carter in the records, though he didn't die until until 1951; but Dr. and Mrs. Bateman (later Sir Geoffrey and Lady Lady) now appear on the scene whilst the Club President is Dr. Bleadon.

1947 was a lovely summer which the cricketers much enjoyed and there was good football to follow. The Secretary's report the following year rejoiced over some more good cricket and a credit balance of over £300. He also reported that the Football Section were again members of the Wycombe & District Combination, Division 3, thanked Dr and Mrs. Bateman, who had been elected Patrons of the Club, for the gift of a roller and made a mysterious reference 'to distinct possibilities of the Club owning their own ground at last'.

Dick and Hilda West bought Stocken Farm from Ernest Smith in 1948 and in October that year a special committee meeting was called to consider the offer by Dr and Mrs. Bateman of a gift of the field that the Club then rented. In the event, to ensure that the land remained as inalienable as possible, the Batemans retained the freehold which they had purchased from Dick West and presented the Club with a 99 year lease at the annual rent of two peppercorns. A formal presentation of the lease was made by the Club's generous Patrons in the presence of Dr Bleadon at a public ceremony on the field on 30th July 1949.

Work on improving the ground could now go ahead with an enthusiasm hitherto undreamed of. The bottom hedge was laid at a cost of £5 a chain and in 1951 a second-hand pavilion was purchased from Princes Risborough Parish Council for £170. How the mammoth task of transporting this building on a borrowed lorry, its rebuilding by volunteer labour and subsequent enlargement and improvement was all accomplished, makes an epic story on its own.

Tennis became increasingly popular about now perhaps through the broadcasting of Wimbledon? Anyway, a public meeting was held on 6th December 1961 to test support for a Tennis Section and the committee subsequently decided to install at least one hard court. Mr West and his son John having generously agreed to donate a strip of their valuable pasture in the next field to accommodate the proposed court clear of the cricket field, work was entrusted to a specialist contractor and the court was officially opened by Dr and Mrs Bateman on 1st September 1962. A second court, to be initiated and financed by the Tennis Section was discussed at a well attended and enthusiastic meeting at the clubhouse in July1977 but in 1980 it was still only being talked about but then a fund-raising sub-committee was formed. Meanwhile, Court No. 1 had to be resurfaced at a cost in excess of £2000 but despite this, money was being raised for a second court and in August 1982 the Secretary was able to announce a grant of £1000 from the Sports Council plus a five year, interest-free loan of a further £2000. By Christmas, work had actually started on the new court though progress was to be slow and intermittent. During this time the Club was generously assisted by the loan of private courts at Lane Farm and Grymsdyke. By August 1983 the second court was in use.

Encouraged by perhaps by this ultimate success or just by the enthusiasm of the growing membership, a third court was proposed. With yet another strip of that valued pasture, again given so generously by the Wests, Court No 3 was completed in record time during 1985 and all three were put to good use during the busy 1986 season. The Club also enjoyed the winter use of overed courts at Bisham.

The Football Section unfortunately struck a bad patch again and in 1983 Saturday Football came to an end. The following year as to see the ground hired out to a Sunday Morning team from Downley. But in the summer of 985 came the good news that the Football Section had started up again and were joining the Maxwell League which plays on Sunday mornings.

Although they were eventually knocked out of both Cup semi-finals, the Club were to be congratulated on a splendid 1985/86 season after a break of nearly 2 years.

For current news of the Club in all its activities, you are recommended to read the up-to-date reports in Hallmark but I must just refer back to the cricketers who have almost always managed to field two teams with above average success, their first eleven winning the First Division Wycombe & District League two years running in 1977and 1978.

The Club today, with its own ground in excellent condition, its comfortable clubhouse and enthusiastic membership in all sections, probably offers new members facilities for sport and recreation which can hardly be bettered by any other village club in the county.

• This page was last edited on 26 May 2023, at 12:32.
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